Alfa Romeo names Tacoma dealer as its sole Western Washington store

After a nearly two-decade absence from the U.S. market, Italian car maker Alfa Romeo Friday named 82 U.S. and four Canadian dealers to sell its cars in North America.

Among those 82 is Fiat of Tacoma, which sells cars made by Alfa's parent company, Fiat.

Fiat of Tacoma is one of two dealers designated to sell the upmarket brand in Washington. The other dealer is in Spokane.

Sales of Alfas will start slowly with limited availability of the company's sporty 4C model. The line will later be expanded to include sedans and perhaps an SUV.

Alfa exited the U.S. in 1995.

The brand gained perhaps its greatest public fame in the iconic 1967 movie The Graduate in which Dustin Hoffman drove a classic red Alfa Spider 1800.

According to industry sources, the initial 4C models offered for sale at U.S. dealers will be a limited edition priced at nearly $70,000.  More ordinary 4Cs will be priced beginning at $55,000.

The company's sedan, to be built in the same Belvidere, Ill. plant as its sister car, the Dodge Dart, will be less expensive.

Alfa will position itself against such imported brands as BMW, Audi, Volvo and Mercedes.

In addition to its namesake brand and Alfa Romeo, Fiat produces Maserati, Ferrari, Chrysler, Dodge, Lancia, Ram and Jeep brand vehicles.

The Fiat vehicles sold in the U.S. are built in a Chrysler plant in Mexico. Fiat reentered the U.S. in 2011 after a 27-year absence.

Phil Bivens, owner of Fiat of Tacoma and the new Alfa dealership at 3740 South Tacoma Way, also owns Tacoma Dodge Chrysler Jeep, Dodge Chrysler Jeep of Enumclaw, Tacoma Nissan and Auburn Chevrolet.

Alfa said it intends to eventually expand its U.S. dealer network to 300 stores.  The 82 dealerships announced Friday are spread among 33 states. Among the states that for now have no Alfa dealers are Washington neighbors Oregon and Idaho.

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Godzilla Ad

FIATs new Godzilla ad has started running on TV screens nationwide. But thousands of those screens aren't in front of a sofa. They are mounted on gasoline pumps run by Outcast Media, which programs and handles advertising buys and placement on its network of some 21,000 gasoline pump TV screens in 135 DMAs.

 

In January, the company was acquired by Greensboro, N.C.-based fuel dispenser and integrated fueling company Gilbarco Veeder-Root. Gilbarco says the deal will take Outcast from its reported 36 million viewers per month to 100 million in two years, thanks to the 60,000 additional retail fueling stations and a piggyback on Gilbarco's own growth plans.

 

Nathan Gill, co-founder and CRO of Outcast Media, says Outcast is more an extension of traditional TV than a digital play with scale on par with prime-time show reaching consumers that have an automotive mindset. He says the appeal to automakers is that a gas-pump buy reaches (obviously) only drivers and, therefore, consumers who are driving age or older. And probably people driving to and from work. "They are driving 50% more than the general population and are 4.5% more likely to be looking for a new vehicle," he says. 

 

But it's also as expensive as TV, although it's treated as a video buy, per Gill. The benefit is the captive, hard-to-reach audience. "They are commuting, working longer hours, out and about and watching less TV; they are watching less traditional media. So they are hard to get in front of." 

Birmingham, Mich.-based Gas Station TV (GSTV), which reports 45 million viewers per month, ran its own Fiat campaign last December. Interpublic's UM handles media for Fiat. GSTV said the ads garnered 60% recall, with 45% of it unaided (per Lieberman, which it contracted for the study.) The difference with GSTV's campaign was that it was custom-made for the pump experience, as it featured a Fiat fan inside the screen gazing out and hoping for an encounter with one of the cars. 

 

“Brands now realize the importance of diversifying their media mix and exploring new avenues, including video at the pump, to reach their target audiences,” said Denise Smith, SVP, group media director at UM, in a statement about the campaign released around the time it launched. 

Gill says that in addition to running a Tier 1 national-campaign creative on Outcast, auto marketers like the network for lower-tier local market advertising with sales event messages, as well as messages about fuel efficiency -- a pitch that makes obvious sense. The other growth area is dealer parts and services. "Lots of OEMs want to make sure owners are using their service centers."

He says 75% of the Outcast Media drive-in audience is 18 to 49 years of age; 82% are employed; and half are college grads. The average household income is $83,000. "What you see there is a function of the fact that these people are driving to work every day."

Automatic Abarths and Turbo

If you're a fan of the design (and the performance numbers) of the Fiat 500 Abarth and its cabriolet version but not its manual transmission, you'll want to hear this. Fiat has announced that the 2015 Fiat 500 Abarth and Abarth Cabrio will be offered with an optional six-speed automatic transmission in addition to a slightly redesigned interior. The new models will appear at the New York auto show next week.

Fiat seems to have come to terms with North America's transmission preferences. It will be offering an Aisin AW6F25 six-speed automatic that has been reinforced with more clutch plates and given a stronger heat treatment for higher torque capability on the Abarth and Turbo models. The new transmission will offer a Sport mode, able to do fuel-cut upshifts, rev-matching downshifts, brake-assist downshifts, corner-gear hold and fast-off gear hold. We suspect the resulting sound might convince everyone within earshot that you're driving a six-speed manual, given the Abarth's warbly exhaust.

"Adding an optional automatic transmission makes the Abarth and Abarth Cabrio accessible to an entirely new group of customers who want to enjoy the thrilling driving experience of the Fiat 500 Abarth with the convenience of an automatic gearbox,” said Jason Stoicevich, head of FIAT North America.

Don't worry: The manual five-speed transmission is staying in our favorite Abarth and Turbo 500 models. Both are powered by a 1.4-liter MultiAir Turbo engine, with the Abarth making a stout 160 hp and 170 lb-ft of torque. The midrange Turbo model produces 135 hp and 150 lb-ft of torque, still plenty to get the small hatch seriously moving.



The additional transmission isn't the only thing Fiat is offering in the 2015 500 models: All 500 variants will receive a new 7-inch high-definition TFT (Thin Film Transistor) cluster display. The display will show the gas mileage, rang, and distance traveled in addition to speed and fuel level. The new screen will also display radio station and telephone information, and it will work with Rear Park Assist if the 500 is optioned with that system. .

Fiat tweaked the center console, introducing a new cupholder design and a more conveniently located USB port integrated with the radio. The 500 also will receive a number of new paint colors for 2015, including Giallo Moderna Perla (modern pearl yellow), Laser Blu (bright metallic blue) and Billet Argento (billet silver).

Abarths are now at FIAT of Tacoma

The 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth may be small -- smaller than even a Mini Cooper -- but it's a heavy car.

With a curb weight of about 2500 pounds, the 500 Abarth isn't pound-heavy -- it's heritage-heavy. Just look at all the stylized scorpion badges. The 500 Abarth has eight of those badges on its exterior alone, if you count the wheel centers, and all of them remind you of one thing: a reputation for performance that's as large as the 500 is small.

This is the car the most fervent Fiat fans have been waiting for, ardently avoiding local dealers for fear of cracking and buying a regular 500. It certainly looks the part, especially our tester, turned out in Rosso paint and the optional gunmetal-colored 17-inch wheels, red brake calipers peeking out from behind the spokes. The rear valance has the requisite vents to match the restyled front air dam, with inlet and exit ducts for the twin intercoolers mounted just forward of the front wheels. The interior gets a restyled shiftknob and a chunky, flat-bottomed steering wheel. And those Abarth badges...well, they do the intended deed.

Open the hood and you're greeted with a red plastic engine cover that isn't quite long enough to hide the most significant revision to the little 1.4-liter Multiair engine: the small Garrett turbocharger that puts 160 hp and 170 lb-ft of torque on tap. As in the good old days, the heart of any Abarth is the engine, and this one pushes out nearly 60 percent more hp than the standard car. While the engine is somewhat different from the European version despite its identical horsepower to the premium esseesse (Italian for SS) model, the transmission is the same -- a five-speed manual unique to the Abarth (an automatic is not available).

The engine fires with a throaty burble, the din exiting via twin chromed exhaust tips -- a far cry from the normal car's mild rasp. Setting off, a mash of the throttle sends the boost gauge twirling and the Abarth leaps forward, picking up steam north of 4000 rpm and revving strongly to redline. Torque steer, a valid concern with high-output front drivers, is virtually nil in a straight line, thanks in part to an active locking differential that's tied into the new three-mode electronic stability control program. At the dragstrip, we recorded a 0-60-mph time of 6.8 seconds -- 3 seconds faster than the 500 Sport -- and a 15.3-second quarter-mile run with a trap speed of 89.8 mph. The last Mini Cooper S we tested (the Cooper is a primary 500 competitor despite its slightly larger scale) was roughly half a second quicker to 60 mph, but a full second quicker to the quarter mile. A standard Cooper was just over 1 second slower in both categories.

Like the Abarths that have come before it, the 500 Abarth has been tuned to be a well-rounded sport coupe. Engineers tweaked the 500's front MacPherson strut design and added Koni dampers and shorter coil springs that are stiffer by 40/20 percent front/rear.

 

 

 

Abarth also added its own front control arms, beefier anti-roll bars front and rear, and reinforced the rear axle and coiled spring mounts. An Abarth tweak to the electronic power steering makes it 10 percent quicker and improves road feel compared with the 500 Sport's. Front brake disc diameter is increased by an inch to 11.1 inches, and our tester's optional alloys were wrapped in sticky 205/40R17 Pirelli PZero Nero rubber.

FIAT 500L

GENEVA — The 2013 Fiat 500L compact crossover will get several engines, including the new 0.9-liter TwinAir, as well as more than 30 exterior color choices — and "fragrance diffusers." It debuts at the 2012 Geneva Auto Show.
The Fiat 500L will also get a 1.4-liter four-cylinder gas engine and a MultiJet 1.3-liter diesel engine when it launches in Europe later this year. It will deubt in the U.S. early next year.
Fiat said the five-passenger hatchback will also get an eco:Drive application that gives the driver advice for cutting fuel consumption. The EPA has yet to rate the 2013 Fiat 500L. It will also get the optional my:Car, which diagnoses, records and certifies the car's history and state of maintenance.
The 500L — the L in the car's name stands for "large" — is 163 inches long, 70 inches wide and 65 inches tall.
Fiat 500L buyers will get a choice of white, gray or black for the alloy wheels and a range of accessories, including custom graphics, chrome-plating, ski roof bars and a bicycle holder. The 14-cubic-foot trunk can hold up to five suitcases, said Fiat.
The 500L will be built on Fiat's SUSW (Small U.S. Wide) platform, which also will underpin a new compact Jeep crossover in the U.S., as well as replacements overseas for the Fiat Punto and Palio.